Notes from Denver Merlot Tasting

Deep, dark color. Strong notes of coffee with hints of tar and mysterious dark fruit. Solid tannins. Some described the finish as decent while others thought it went on forever. One taster had this as their #1 wine, while others didn’t enjoy at all. Decanted for 4 hours before the tasting, then tasted over the course of the evening.

This was the wine I brought to the tasting. I couldn't get past the charred wood/coffee smell and taste of the wine, though a few others liked it.

What did you rate it out of 100 points? I picked up 4 bottles recently for about $22. WS gives it a very positive review at 91 points.

Doc

I'm getting better at putting points on tasting notes, but have a little trouble with this one. I had trouble getting past the coffee and char in the wine, thought I enjoyed it and went back a couple of times for more. One of the other tasters had this as his top wine of the night. He and a couple others might go in with me to get more.

So... I still haven't answered your question. It's well made and very young right now, so I don't know how it will age. For $22, I'd be very happy with my purchase. Even at the $30 I paid, I wasn't disappointed. Does that help?

PS - Where did you get it at $22???

I picked them up in Austin at Central Market about 2 months ago.

Doc

Decanted for 30-45 minutes.. I suggest to wait at least 30 minutes. I have to agree with RP, solid 91 points wine. Dark color, with taste of coffee, licorice. Nice and long finish. Currently, this is my favorite 2000 right bank wine under $30 along with Ch. Faugeres...

This is a very nice wine. I tasted it at a Bdx tasting a few years ago and went back and bought a few of them. I thought it might be a 2000 that will drink well in the 7-10 year post-vintage range.

I brought a bottle of this this to a blind tasting about 6 months ago. Turns out someone else brought the same wine. Mine was bought on futures and stored at 55 degrees since release. His came from a retail shelf. They were both really good, but his was much more evolved, which tells us a lot about retail storage. (Honestly his was better to drink at the time.)

I opened one of these about a month and a half ago and felt it was (as so many are) a great 2000 Bordeaux for the money. The wine had great balance and fruit density similar to wines from other vintages costing 2 times as much. Very nicely made.